July News, Part Four
Huzah! I just got finished watching John Kerry’s speech at the DNC, and it was a home run. If you watched that speech and still say, “I don’t know if he’s [whatever] enough to be president”, then you are either: a.) rich, b.) racist, c.) homophobic, d.) totally oblivious to what’s happening around you. And none of those are good things. Now, I suppose it is possible that you simply disagree with Democrats’ stance on abortion. I understand, and respect your views. But, be realistic. Is abortion really the most important issue right now? It’s time people think about the big picture. That picture looks a lot better with John Kerry. Huzzah!
Woo! Miriam and I went to Disney World on Friday, July 23. Her sister’s friend had an arrangement with a park employee to get us in for a reduced fee. It felt very much like an immigrant smuggling operation, but it worked. I would rather give $35 to a hard working employee making $10 an hour than give $50 to a huge corporation. It was hot and crowded, but very good overall. In fact, my only real complaints besides the heat were that I ate WAY too much for lunch at Pecos Bill’s and was in pain for hours afterward, and the wait for Space Mountain was an hour and twenty minutes for a two minute and fifty-four second ride. There was a family in line with a little kid named Kevin, who repeatedly bumped into me while twisting and twirling himself on the hand-rails. His parents knew he was doing it, and told him to stop, but they weren’t very sincere about it. Splash Mountain scared me the most with that big drop. I loved the carousel, Pirates of the Caribbean, the relaxing train ride with the steam locomotive and Big Thunder Mountain was good. The Jungle Cruise was weak. The brass band was great, the fireworks were nice after the excellent parade, and Snow White was so pretty.
Sandi’s visit concluded on Wednesday. It was nice having her again, and we did much good hang-outery. Her relocation to Jacksonville promises to increase fun.
Actually, no sooner had Sandi left, than Saturday came and she was back in town, this time with Jeff. Dan, whom I haven’t seen in months was also there at Steve’s new house. Dan brought his girlfriend, Michelle. Sure, she’s young. Sure, I was ten years old the year she was born. But she seemed very nice. Our game of Cranium will live on in our memories, as will the incredibly loud metal-rap at the Reitz Union Gameroom.
So did you think that that eBay auction for the Sibelius symphonies I posted last time was crazy? Well, look at the following recently-completed eBay auctions for Joshua Bell CDs: Presenting Joshua Bell apparently is his debut disc; the Saint-Saëns and Lalo concerti with the OSM is conducted by Charles Dutoit; and the Tchaikovsky and Wieniawski concerti feature Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Cleveland Orchestra. Obviously, these CDs have been out of print for some time. A less understandable sum was fetched for Bell’s recording of the Prokofiev concerti. These recordings, again with Dutoit directing the OSM, have been reissued on a Decca Trio coupled with Ashkenazy’s recordings of the Prokofiev piano concerti for around $20. Now, I know that Bell is popular, since I have been to one of his recitals, and I see how the fans go crazy for him. As I wrote in a previous post, he was very friendly and exceedingly generous with his time. His fans seem to be exceedingly generous with their money. The combined total selling price of the above three discs is over $250.
Filed under: Friends, Gainesville, Music, Politics, Rantings, Travel on July 31st, 2004 | No Comments »